Organic Gardening Requires Soil Testing

It takes a good foundation to yield quality results. And just like how gold goes through testing in the fire before it becomes refined, same logic can also be applied in agriculture, especially when you consider starting organic gardening. The soil we use in organic gardening should also undergo testing to ensure production of quality crops.

Nowadays, where diet is a great risk factor to a lot of major diseases, most people prefer to seek organic food sources (especially plant-based food) because it is known to be the nutrient dense kind of food and is much safer to eat than meat.

The increase in demand of organic food leads to increase in demand of organic gardening. In order to grow organic crops that will reach their optimum level, we need to plant them in good soil.

Soil is an important foundation for plant growth. No matter what plant you choose to grow, if it is planted in a poor foundation, it will be useless because you can’t reap quality product out of it.

But how do we know if it is a good or poor soil? It needs to go through testing. Soil testing is done to determine the contents of the soil like for example, its nutrient contents as well as its contaminated content. It is a process where analysis of the soil is to be conducted.

Through this procedure, we will be able to know if there are enough nutrients available for the organic plants to grow healthy. And this is vital when you grow organic plants because in organic gardening, it does not use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. And also, with the aid of a good soil, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are no longer needed.

Two types of soil testing

You are probably wondering how to conduct a soil test. Here are two options to choose from:

Standard testing involves checking of the soil acidity, its organic matter and other vital minerals in it but this test excludes testing of available nitrogen. It costs at about $15 to conduct this type of soil test.

Comprehensive testing involves checking of soil acidity, its organic matter, other minerals and now, including nitrogen. So it is basically the more specified kind of soil testing. And this procedure costs a little higher than that of a standard testing.

Soil testing should be ideally done in a laboratory since laboratories give accurate results. However, these days, soil testing can also be done by the users. There are a lot of do-it-yourself kits available in the market. DIY kits can be reliable but they do not guarantee a hundred percent accurate results.

Soil testing also varies depending whether you are going to have organic or conventional gardening. Organic gardening is known to have higher recommended soil nutrients than that of conventional methods.

Either way, soil testing is of utmost importance because without a good soil, the crops will be under-nourished and useless.